Philippines Unicode Keyboard Layout for Linux is now available!

Today, 23^rd of October 2010, Filipino Linux users around the world can now download and use the first release of the Philippines Unicode Keyboard Layout, officially launched during the Philippines Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat Release Party.

What is this all about? Simple: being able to type the characters that Filipinos use, especially the ₱eso sign and ᜊᜌ᜔ᜊᜌᜒᜈ᜔ (Baybayin) glyphs that has been available for use since Unicode 3.2 (March 2002). Other characters are: Ññ, ©, ®, ™, ¢, ¥, ¶, Pahilís (acute diacritic), Paiwà (grave diacritic), Pakupyâ (circumflex diacritic), Ng̃ (the shortened form of nan͠g), and many more.

How about Windows users? ~~You will have to wait more or less 2 weeks, it will be usable for Windows 7, Vista, and XP; both 64-bit and 32-bit installations.~~ It is now available for download.

Without further ado, here are the steps to get you started with using our very own Unicode Keyboard Layout.

Download the PH-UKL-Linux file (available in 7-zip and zip format) here
Extract the content of the archive file you just downloaded
Install the font included so your system can display Baybayin (Alibata) glyphs
Then copy the file “ph” to the correct folder by typing in the terminal (be sure to adjust ~/Downloads/ to where the file is on your end)
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sudo cp ~/Downloads/ph /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols

Open these two files by typing:

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gksu gedit /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev.lst

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gksu gedit /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/base.lst

Search for:
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! layout
After it add:
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ph Philippines
Search for:
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! variant

After it add:

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qwerty-bay            ph: QWERTY (Baybayin)
capewell-dvorak       ph: Capewell-Dvorak (Latin)
capewell-dvorak-bay   ph: Capewell-Dvorak (Baybayin)
capewell-qwerf2k6     ph: Capewell-QWERF 2006 (Latin)
capewell-qwerf2k6-bay ph: Capewell-QWERF 2006 (Baybayin)
colemak               ph: Colemak (Latin)
colemak-bay           ph: Colemak (Baybayin)
dvorak                ph: Dvorak (Latin)
dvorak-bay            ph: Dvorak (Baybayin)

Open these two files by typing:

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gksu gedit /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev.xml

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gksu gedit /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/base.xml

Search for:
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<layoutlist>

After it add:

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<layout>
  <configItem>
    <name>ph</name>
    <shortDescription>Phi</shortDescription>
    <description>Philippines</description>
    <languageList><iso639Id>eng</iso639Id>
                  <iso639Id>bik</iso639Id>
                  <iso639Id>ceb</iso639Id>
                  <iso639Id>fil</iso639Id>
                  <iso639Id>hil</iso639Id>
                  <iso639Id>ilo</iso639Id>
                  <iso639Id>pam</iso639Id>
                  <iso639Id>pag</iso639Id>
                  <iso639Id>phi</iso639Id>
                  <iso639Id>tgl</iso639Id>
                  <iso639Id>war</iso639Id></languageList>
  </configItem>
  <variantList>
    <variant>
      <configItem>
        <name>qwerty-bay</name>
        <description>QWERTY (Baybayin)</description>
        <languageList><iso639Id>bik</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>ceb</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>fil</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>hil</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>ilo</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>pam</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>pag</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>phi</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>tgl</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>war</iso639Id></languageList>
      </configItem>
    </variant>
    <variant>
      <configItem>
        <name>capewell-dvorak</name>
        <description>Capewell-Dvorak (Latin)</description>
      </configItem>
    </variant>
    <variant>
      <configItem>
        <name>capewell-dvorak-bay</name>
        <description>Capewell-Dvorak (Baybayin)</description>
        <languageList><iso639Id>bik</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>ceb</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>fil</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>hil</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>ilo</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>pam</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>pag</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>phi</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>tgl</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>war</iso639Id></languageList>
      </configItem>
    </variant>
    <variant>
      <configItem>
        <name>capewell-qwerf2k6</name>
        <description>Capewell-QWERF 2006 (Latin)</description>
      </configItem>
    </variant>
    <variant>
      <configItem>
        <name>capewell-qwerf2k6-bay</name>
        <description>Capewell-QWERF 2006 (Baybayin)</description>
        <languageList><iso639Id>bik</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>ceb</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>fil</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>hil</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>ilo</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>pam</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>pag</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>phi</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>tgl</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>war</iso639Id></languageList>
      </configItem>
    </variant>
    <variant>
      <configItem>
        <name>colemak</name>
        <description>Colemak (Latin)</description>
      </configItem>
    </variant>
    <variant>
      <configItem>
        <name>colemak-bay</name>
        <description>Colemak (Baybayin)</description>
        <languageList><iso639Id>bik</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>ceb</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>fil</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>hil</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>ilo</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>pam</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>pag</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>phi</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>tgl</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>war</iso639Id></languageList>
      </configItem>
    </variant>
    <variant>
      <configItem>
        <name>dvorak</name>
        <description>Dvorak (Latin)</description>
      </configItem>
    </variant>
    <variant>
      <configItem>
        <name>dvorak-bay</name>
        <description>Dvorak (Baybayin)</description>
        <languageList><iso639Id>bik</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>ceb</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>fil</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>hil</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>ilo</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>pam</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>pag</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>phi</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>tgl</iso639Id>
                      <iso639Id>war</iso639Id></languageList>
      </configItem>
    </variant>
  </variantList>
</layout>

You’re done! Sort of. You need to activate it to actually use it, follow the next few steps to do so.

Go to: Preferences > Keyboard > Layouts
Click the “Add…” button
Search for the new keyboard you installed either “By country” (Philippines) or “By language” (English; Filipino; Cebuano; Philippine Languages; etc.)
There are different variants that you can choose from:
- Philippines (default; QWERTY - Latin)
- Philippines - QWERTY (Baybayin)
- Philippines - Capewell-Dvorak (Latin)
- Philippines - Capewell-Dvorak (Baybayin)
- Philippines - Capewell-QWERF 2006 (Latin)
- Philippines - Capewell-QWERF 2006 (Baybayin)
- Philippines - Colemak (Latin)
- Philippines - Colemak (Baybayin)
- Philippines - Dvorak (Latin)
- Philippines - Dvorak (Baybayin)
Click the “Add” button
Select the new layout that you added then click the “Move Up” button and place it on top
Keyboard Preferences
Select Philippines Keyboard Layouts
Keyboard Preferences by I’M YourOnly.One is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 International.

Let’s not forget to add the first Baybayin ᜊᜌ᜔ᜊᜌᜒᜈ᜔) keyboard layout, it is QWERTY-based. Simply repeat the process above but place it as second in your Layouts list. Then if you want to switch between Philippines Latin and Philippines Baybayin scripts, simply press Shift+CAPS_Lock. It is the default shortcut in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat.

The font included in the zip file is a Unicode-only and Website-embed compatible version of Nordenx’s Baybayin brush font.

See the keyboard layout images here.

Official source repository: https://codeberg.org/yelosan/unicode-keyboard-layout-philippines. If you have suggestions or bugs to report, please do not hesitate to file a ticket here.

The Philippines Unicode Keyboard Layout is a project of Ubuntu Philippines LoCo Team.

Philippines Unicode Keyboard Layout for Linux is now available!

Filipino Linux users around the world can now download and use the first release of the Philippines Unicode Keyboard Layout.

See Also